MicroLED-Connect is an upcoming hybrid event series, a year-long program of virtual and onsite events, all focused on the microLED industry. The first MicroLED Connect virtual event is coming up later this month, a 2-day virtual event that will be focused on microLED (and also miniLED) technologies. The event will include over 25 lectures from leading companies, researchers and market analysts. The series is organized by the MicroLED Industry Association together with TechBlick.

Attendee tickets for MicroLED-Connect are offered as a year-long ticket (virtual-only, or hybrid), and are now available at an early-bird discount, until November 15. Now is a great time to reserve your ticket and make sure you stay updated with the latest microLED industry and market updates.

You can view the complete agenda of the MicroLED Connect virtual November event here. Speaking companies (in no particular order) include  KLA, Toray Engineering, Mikro Mesa, QNA Technologies, QubeDot, GE Research, Mojo Vision, InnovationSemi, Nanopattern Technologies, Intel, Omdia, Kubos Semiconductor, Raysolve, Hendy Consulting, Yole, Q-Pixel, Stratacache, nsc, eLux, Polar Light Technologies, Smartkem, OLED Association, Delo, and more.

The MicroLED Industry Association will host its second annual meeting during Displayweek 2024. The annual meeting will take place on Monday the 13rd of May, at 4:00PM, at the San Jose McEnery convention center.

During the meeting, we will update on past activities and plans for the new year, and give association members an excellent chance to network and connect with fellow microLED industry professionals.

The first MicroLED Connect virtual event is coming up later this month, a 2-day virtual event that will be focused on microLED (and also miniLED) technologies. The event will include over 25 lectures from leading companies, researchers and market analysts. 

Eric Virey, a senior display analyst from the Yole Group, will give a talk discussing the opportunities for microLED technologies at high-volume applications - such as TVs, smartphones, wearables and IT displays. Yole's research on microLEDs is highly regarded, and we're looking forward to hearing Eric's latest analysis and insights. 

Singapore-based nsc innovation is an integrated circuit design company, that develops microLED microdisplays based on a monolithically integrated silicon CMOS with GaN LEDs platform, produced at full wafer scale. Kenneth Lee, nsc's co-founder, will give a lecture at the upcoming MicroLED-Connect virtual webinar on November 2023, and was kind enough to answer a few questions we had.

Hello Kenneth, can you give us a short introduction to nsc and your microLED technology?

nsc is an integrated circuit design company based out of Singapore. nsc aims to enhance the human experience through future technology by creating ground-breaking integrated circuits that will underpin future technological waves. 

Our chips are the first to effectively integrate silicon CMOS with GaN LEDs monolithically and at full wafer scale, while maintaining compatibility with traditional CMOS manufacturing. By doing so, nsc offers the functionality and manufacturability needed to enable widespread adoption of microdisplays.

We're happy to interview DELO, as part of our series of interviews with MicroLED Industry Association members. DELO is a leading maker of high-tech adhesives and other multifunctional materials as well as corresponding dispensing and curing equipment.

DELO's hightech materials come to play for numerous of semiconductor, automotive and consumer electronics applications

Can you introduce your company and technology?

Dr. Tim Cloppenborg, senior project manager: DELO is a leading manufacturer of high-tech adhesives and other multifunctional materials as well as adhesive dispensing and curing technology. Our products are mainly used in the automotive, consumer electronics, and semiconductor industries. They can be found in almost every mobile phone and in most cars worldwide, for example in cameras, loudspeakers, electric motors, or sensors. DELO's headquarters are in Windach, Germany, near Munich, with subsidiaries in China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and USA, as well as representative offices and distributors in numerous other countries. We employ a workforce of 1,000 staff and achieved a turnover of almost €205 million in the last fiscal year. Our customers include Bosch, Huawei, Mercedes-Benz, Osram, Siemens, and Sony. As an innovative company, we always work ahead of the curve and pursue upcoming trends proactively. Regarding microLED applications, we are excited to provide adhesive research and expertise to our tech partners for the development of next generation displays, which will set a new standard for communication and visualization.

US-based eLux was established in 2016 in the USA as a spin-out from Sharp Labs of America, with an aim to develop a massively parallel assembly (transfer) process that enable low cost manufacturing of microLED displays. eLux's president and CEO Jan-Jong Lee will give a lecture at the upcoming MicroLED-Connect virtual webinar on November 2023, and was kind enough to answer a few questions we had.

Hello JJ, can you give us a short intro to your company and microLED product/service?

eLux proprietary fluidic assembly technology (FSA) has several significant advantages over conventional mass transfer methods used for competing microLED displays. Most important is that massively parallel assembly can achieve assembly rates over 5 million devices per hour using simple equipment and assembly can be scaled up to Gen 6 backplanes. eLux welcomes collaboration IP license with display companies to introduce microLED displays to the market.

With summer nearing its end and the new year right around the corner, we thought a few updates were in order! It's been a busy year at MicroLED-Info.

In 2022, we launched the MicroLED Industry Association, to serve as an international industry forum to promote microLED technologies and collaboration. The association closed a successful first year, growing to over 40 companies, including leading microLED developers, supply chain companies, researchers, and more. We have organized 11 webinars and meetups, published four white papers and the microLED Library - and conducted our first onsite meeting during Display Week 2023.

We have exciting plans for the second year of the MicroLED Association, including two onsite meetings (one in Europe, and one in the US), the publication of our first roadmap, and a drafting of suggested practices as part of a first industry standards document.

We're happy to interview GE, as part of our series of interviews with MicroLED Industry Association members. GE offers narrow band red and green phosphor technologies known as KSF and PFS, suitable for microLED color conversion.

Can you introduce your company and technology?

Rachel Cassidy, PhD, MBA: The General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational company. For more than 125 years, GE has invented the future of industry. Today, GE is best known for its work in the Power, Renewable Energy, Aviation and Healthcare industries.

GE’s Licensing team provides access to GE’s patent portfolio and technical and intellectual resources. Licensees receive world-leading technology paired with advice and guidance to accelerate their technology development and achieve market differentiation.

The GE LED Phosphors team has world class chemistry and physics expertise as well characterization capabilities that have resulted in commercial successes in both lighting and LCD display technologies. Multimillion-dollar yearly revenue, multiple awards, hundreds of patents, over 20 licensees of our patents, along with various publications and invited conference presentations show that this team is on the cutting edge of luminescent material development and can advance from concept to invention to commercialization. Our narrow band red phosphor technology known as KSF (K2SiF6:Mn) can be found in over 60 billion LEDs as well as remote films for miniLED applications sold into the display industry.  The great success of KSF phosphor in the display industry is due to the high color gamut and energy efficiency that has best in class reliability.

We're happy to interview Smartkem, as part of our series of interviews with MicroLED Industry Association members. UK based Smartkem developed a patented organic backplane display solution based on unique, patented inks. Smartkem's inks are solution deposited at a low temperature, on low-cost substrates to make organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) circuits.

Hello, can you introduce your company and technology?

Simon Ogier, Chief Technology Officer: SmartKem is a materials company that manufactures its unique and patented TRUFLEX® semiconductor and dielectric inks. These are used to make organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) backplanes for active matrix display driving. Our inks enable low temperature additive manufacturing processes that are compatible with existing a-Si TFT-LCD backplane equipment lines. SmartKem OTFTs have been used in emissive display backplane demonstrators achieving high brightness for microLED (>100K nits). The current stability under thermal bias stress testing is excellent and minimises threshold voltage shifts even under high current conditions. Our platform can be used in a several display technologies including microLED, miniLED and AMOLED displays for next generation televisions, laptops, AR and VR headsets, smartwatches and smartphones.

The MicroLED Industry Association published today a new white paper, that is focused on monolithic microLED integration.

A major challenge in producing MicroLED displays is the transfer stage, also known as Pick and Place. This production step is responsible for transferring individual LEDs from the original wafer to the final display. In some cases, it is possible to (more or less) skip this stage and transfer the LEDs directly to the final display through a process called monolithic microLED integration.

This document will focus on such a process, discuss various options for its execution and examine the types of displays and applications it is suitable for. The white paper is published on the MicroLED Association's website, and is open to the public.